The Hermitage

My family traveled to Nashville, TN last weekend to celebrate my brother's graduation from Belmont University. Unfortunately, all the pictures from commencement are on my Mom's camera and will be emailed soon. 

After commencement on Saturday, we traveled out to the Hermitage to soak in a bit of US History. The Hermitage was bought by Andrew Jackson and his wife, Rachel, shortly before his rise to fame at the Battle of New Orleans and then his presidency. This property was Jackson's "rural retreat," and when he learned that "rural retreat" in French is "Hermitage -- pronounced with a French -aage on the end" he dubbed his retreat the Hermitage. 

The family sold the property to the Preservation Society (?) and so everything in the home is original except some of the fabrics and floor coverings that were reproduced from the original. I found the home to be beautiful, but I am always taken-back by the fact that EV.ERY.THING. was done by hand. No tractors, no power tools, no running water ... everything. We saw the spring that supplied water to the "Main House" and thinking of carrying water 80 yards uphill for every household chore was mind-boggling.

Be ready for picture overload because we could not have been there on a more beautiful day!! 

The gates to the home:

A view of the gate from mid-driveway:

Turning 180* to see the front of the house. The trees are original to the property.

The architecture on the front of the home.

Waiting to go in with silly Caroline! :)

Loving on Aunt Lindsay!

The view from the side porch.

The side of the house -- I found it interesting that the architecture was so different on the sides and back of the home from the front.

Horse-pulled wagon ride through some of the property.

The home the Jacksons lived in while the main home was built. I two-story cabin that was later turned into a one-floor log cabin for the head house-slave.

And just because I can .. how stinkin' cute is this??